


Constructive Criticism

by nirejseki



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 02:56:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6638500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirejseki/pseuds/nirejseki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt for Coldflash, with dragons, with Len being a legendary dragon training who is failing at flirting with Barry and Barry, crushing on Len, but who thinks Len hates him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Constructive Criticism

Barry had been super looking forward to the return of Leonard Snart from extended patrol. He’d never gotten to talk to the man while he was in training, but seriously, the man was a legend. His rapport with his dragon was unmatched, his flying some of the most extraordinarily picture-perfect ever, his effectiveness and coolness under fire notorious.

Plus, Snart was the only other person Barry had ever met who referred to his dragon as his sister. Which Barry got on, like, a deep spiritual level; he couldn’t imagine thinking of Iris as anything other than the closest family. Snart got that, referring to his dragon, Lisa, as his sister more often than he called her his dragon.

Lisa was gigantic, her scales shining so brightly that she could only be described as a true gold, rather than the pale yellow of her heritage. It was very unusual for an ice dragon, but long before Barry had started training, Snart had laid down the law about people talking negatively about his sister. He was so cool.

Which made it all the more disappointing when the man himself returned. Oh, his flying was just as perfect as advertised (and the man himself was drop dead gorgeous, _why did no one ever mention that_ , Barry feels like he was entitled to some warning here). But with that perfectionism came…

“Allen. Your seat on your dragon is…atypical.”

Barry winced, pulling back into a more traditional seated position. Iris didn’t mind it – she liked it when he slid forward, made happy sounds that Barry was pretty sure had something to do with draconian aerodynamics – but it definitely wasn’t in the rulebook.

The man himself was perched on Lisa, running perfect spins above the training riders, frowning straight at Barry.

_Again_.

God, why wouldn’t the guy let up? This was like the fifth time he’d singled Barry out for some sort of snide comment about his flying style (“unexpected”) or his turning radius (“you cut that very close – your dragon’s wing was less than an inch away”) or even his grooming habits (“it’s rare to see a trainee still in the stables at this hour.”)

If it was any of the other instructors, Barry would have assumed that he’d pissed the guy off by being late to his first class, but he’d actually been on time to Snart’s first class! He’d been _early_ , even!

Barry shot a sickly smile at Snart, who was looking unfairly and devastatingly attractive just _hovering_ in the air like that. Ugh, Barry knew how hard that trick was. “Sorry about that!” Barry said insincerely. “Don’t mind me!”

Snart blinked at him, long as slow. His eyes were as blue as his dragon’s, and she was an _ice dragon_. Life is so unfair.

Barry squeezed Iris, who took off in a hurry. Best to finish the obstacle course quickly and get out of Snart’s radar before the guy got mad. If he ever got mad. Captain Cold was a hell of a nickname to live up to. Live down to?

He landed a good half hour before the rest of the rookie Dragon Riders were done, and a good hour before any of them would bother landing. Barry slid off Iris, who gave him a sympathetic nuzzle. He slide his gloved hand down the thinner scales around her ear and jawbone, making her purr. “It’s okay,” he whispered to her like he did when they were curled up in her warm stable nest. “I don’t take it personally. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make him any less hot.”

Iris rubbed her head against his shoulder again, making a sound of…amusement?…before she headed back towards the stables. Well, Barry supposed that human attraction and the accompanying mating rituals had always been funny to her. Still, she sounded like she usually did when she knew something he didn’t (what assignments would be handed out, if it was going to SNOW on his next patrol thanks for the warning). He just hoped whatever she thought she knew this time didn’t bite him in the ass.

You keep a secret from your dragon one time when she’s practically just out of the egg and suddenly you’re on a need-to-know basis about everything. Ever.

“Allen.”

Oh, _crap_.

Snart had landed shortly behind him, hopping off Lisa with an ease and grace that Barry deeply, deeply envied (no mounting block for him, no sir). The older man waved Lisa off to the stables, not leading her in with care like he usually did, making a beeline for Barry instead.

_I’m going to get my head ripped off and I don’t even know what I DID_ , Barry thought despondently. _Worse, he’s going to look incredibly attractive the entire time and I’m totally going to zone out on him and then he’s going to get even more mad._

There was a reason Barry had thus far been avoiding conversations of more than a sentence or two with Snart thus far and that reason was 100% named “inappropriate bodily reactions”. Damnit, he’d just finally gotten out of that awkward teenage stage when he’d thought he was in love with Iris (she was his dragon! Wires get crossed! It is TOTALLY NORMAL, Cisco!) and possibly with anything else that happened to be stationary for more than five minutes, and then Snart had swanned in and it had all gone to hell again.

“Yes, sir?” he asked, trying to play for casual. Or _anything_ other than “I want to bang you like a dragon in the middle of mating season.”

“Your free period is tomorrow, isn’t it?” Snart said, his words oddly clipped.

Also, what the hell was he talking about?

“Uh. Yeah, yeah it is.”

“Have you planned out what you’re going to do yet?”

Barry shrugged. “No, not really. Probably take Iris out for a free run sometime; she likes to go out every day.”

Snart frowned and shifted from one foot to another. No way, there can’t be a rule against doing that! Barry’s totally been doing that every free day since he started training, and no one ever said anything!

Barry was starting to puff himself up in annoyance when Snart apparently got over whatever was keeping him silent.

“I would appreciate it if you’d let Lisa and I tag along with you tomorrow.”

Well, that took the wind out of Barry’s sails. “Uh,” he said intelligently, desperately trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make him sound like he was mentally deficient.

Snart appears to take this as a sign to proceed. “You and Iris have the fastest recorded run of the obstacle course here, ever. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, it was a pretty big deal when I broke the course record,” Barry replied, still not sure what was going on. If it was anyone else, he would have assumed “can I fly my dragon with you” was a euphemism for a date out somewhere nice and private where the dragons could frolic and the riders could…also frolic.

Snart nodded. “You make a lot of on the spot innovations when you fly; I’ve never seen them before.”

Barry stared at him. That didn’t sound like a criticism.

“I’d be interested in learning more about them. If you had the time, of course.”

_Holy shit Leonard Snart is asking me out._

Snart cleared his throat. “Perhaps another time…”

_Holy shit he thinks I’m turning him down._

“Yes!” Barry blurted out. When Snart’s face began to freeze, Barry rewound the conversation in his head and blanched. “I mean, no! I mean, yes to tomorrow! No to the other time! I mean, I’m free tomorrow! We should totally go out!”

Snart’s face changed, relaxed a bit as a smile started tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Tomorrow, then.”

“For…flying lessons? You like my flying?”

“Oh, yes. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“But you like it.”

Snart smiled at him. A real smile, which somehow managed to make him even more attractive. Barry would be very happy to see more of that. “It’s not the only thing I like.”

Oh yeah.

Barry beamed. “So, uh, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow…?” Wait, should he call him Snart? Too impersonal. Leonard? He’d heard somewhere that Snart didn’t like his full name. What nicknames were there for Leonard?

“Len,” Snart – Len! - provided.

“See you tomorrow, Len. And, uh, you can call me Barry, of course.”

Len smirked.

“Cool.”


End file.
